Money and Power in Anglo-Saxon England

by Naismith, Rory

• ISBN13: 9781107006621
• ISBN10: 1107006627
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2011-12-31
• Publisher: Cambridge Univ Pr

Summary

This groundbreaking study of coinage in early medieval England is the first to take account of the very significant additions to the corpus of southern English coins discovered in recent years and to situate this evidence within the wider historical context of Anglo-Saxon England and its continental neighbours. Its nine chapters integrate historical and numismatic research to explore who made early medieval coinage, who used it and why. The currency emerges as a significant resource accessible across society and, through analysis of its production, circulation and use, the author shows that control over coinage could be a major asset. This control was guided as much by ideology as by economics and embraced several levels of power, from kings down to individual craftsmen. Thematic in approach, this innovative book offers an engaging, wide-ranging account of Anglo-Saxon coinage as a unique and revealing gauge for the interaction of society, economy and government.

Table of Contents

List of figures	p. viii
List of maps	p. xii
List of tables	p. xiii
Acknowledgements	p. xiv
List of abbreviations	p. xvi
Introduction	p. 1
Coinage in southern England and its neighbours 757-865	p. 4
The historical setting: Mercia,Wessex and the Vikings	p. 9
Money In Its Political Context	p. 13
Kings, states and power in England and its neighbours	p. 16
Royal resources	p. 23
Land and warriors	p. 29
Towns and trade	p. 32
Conclusion	p. 36
Coinage as a royal resource: the Roman legacy	p. 37
Emperors, kings and minting	p. 39
Minting profits	p. 41
Looking at Coinage: Iconography and Inscriptions	p. 47
Coins, kings and propaganda	p. 47
'Portraits'	p. 53
Offa, novus Constantinus?	p. 54
After Offa	p. 64
Archiepiscopal portraits	p. 67
Crosses and other religious iconography	p. 69
Inscriptions	p. 72
Numismatic titulature	p. 79
Conclusion	p. 84
Authority and Minting I: The King	p. 87
Royal coinage in England before c. 740	p. 90
The establishment of royal coinages in northwest Europe c. 740-c. 770	p. 96
The development of royal coinage: the Mercian regime 757-c. 825	p. 100
The development of royal coinage: the West Saxon regime c. 825-65	p. 106
Case studies in royal coinage I: gold coinage	p. 112
Case studies in royal coinage II: the interstices of royal coinage	p. 117
Authority and Minting II: Mints, Die-Cutters and Moneyers	p. 128
Mint-towns	p. 128
Moneyers and die-cutters	p. 132
The moneyers of Anglo-Saxon England	p. 142
Origins and parallels	p. 142
Connections and positions	p. 146
Case studies in the role of moneyers I: favoured moneyers	p. 150
Case studies in the role of moneyers II: the Anonymous coinage	p. 153
Kings, mints and moneyers	p. 154
Value Judgements: Weight and Fineness	p. 156
Metal standards	p. 157
Silver sources	p. 157
Fineness	p. 161
Weight standards	p. 168
Offa's weight standards	p. 171
Offa, Charlemagne and the coin reforms of 792-4	p. 175
Metrology after 792/3	p. 178
Production of Coinage	p. 181
Coinage and recoinage	p. 181
The scale of minting	p. 184
The productivity of moneyers	p. 192
Contexts and comparisons	p. 194
Conclusion	p. 196
The Circulation of Coinage	p. 199
English money, foreign money	p. 203
Global trends within southern England: 'monetary recession, without geographical retreat'	p. 209
A tale of two mints: Canterbury and Ipswich compared	p. 211
London	p. 214
Rochester and Southampton: the minor mints	p. 216
Coin-circulation and kings, moneyers and clergy	p. 218
The rate of loss: monetization and production compared	p. 224
The forces behind circulation	p. 229
The monetary economy of southern England	p. 229
Changes in the monetary economy	p. 231
Contexts of circulation: pottery and metalwork	p. 239
Contexts of circulation: Francia, Northumbria and Italy	p. 244
Conclusion	p. 251
The Nature of Coin-Use in the Early Middle Ages	p. 252
Background: Mauss, Pirenne, Grierson and after	p. 252
Coins and commerce?	p. 259
Gifts and coins	p. 260
Case study: payments in Anglo-Saxon charters	p. 267
Coinage and exchange in context	p. 273
Coinage, markets and peasants	p. 276
The problem of small change	p. 284
Conclusion: coinage in the economy	p. 291
Conclusion	p. 293
Bibliography	p. 296
Index	p. 340
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